CGBTS Chapter 32

Chapter 32 – Just Stay Here

Novel Title: あの夏から戻れない (Can’t Go Back to That Summer)

Author：宮緒葵 (Miyao Aoi)

Illustrator：笠井あゆみ (Kasai Ayumi)

Translator: K (@kin0monogatari)

Protagonists: 櫛原夏生 (Kushihara Natsuo -MC) & 四辻柊 (Yotsutsuji Shuu -ML)

*Please read at knoxt.space, the original site of translation. TQ*

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Passion burned in Shuu’s green eyes. Only now did Natsuo realize that he had come out of the shell of the futon. He hurriedly tried to retreat beneath it again, but before he could, Shuu firmly caught him by the arm.

“Wah…!”

He was pulled out, inch by inch, and placed facing Shuu on his lap as he was seated cross-legged. Perhaps Shuu had seen through his instinctive attempt to escape. That was why a strong arm was wrapped around his waist.

“U, ah…”

“Natsuo, look at me.”

Even though Shuu asked him to, there was no way Natsuo could simply obey. The affectionate gaze, the whispers, the arm around his waist—everything was far too sweet. This was absolutely not the way one treated a childhood friend.

“Natsuo. …Please, look at me.”

Although it would have been easy for Shuu to forcibly turn him around, he still pleaded softly into Natsuo’s ear.

Drawn in by the aching note in his voice, Natsuo slowly turned back toward him, and then he could no longer move. He was caught in those green eyes, eyes that seemed capable of burning him to ashes.

“I love you, Natsuo.”

“Ah… a, ah…”

“If you’ve forgotten, I’ll tell you as many times as it takes. …I love you. You’re the only one for me. For your sake, I’ll do anything.”

The confession was sweeter than anything that remained in Natsuo’s fragmented memories. Like a pool of honey so deep that once he drowned in it, he would never be able to crawl back out.

“…Are my feelings a burden to you?”

“N-no, that’s not it at all…!”

Shuu lowered his eyelids painfully, and Natsuo abruptly lifted his face. The emerald pendant around his neck swayed against his chest.

“I… when the Sacred Flower made me lose control, I’m glad it was you who helped me. If it had been someone else, I don’t think I could be this calm right now.”

“Natsuo, that’s…”

“I don’t know. …I don’t know why. When Etsuko-chan tried to take your pendant away from you, I thought there was absolutely no way I was going to let her have it. I couldn’t stand the thought of someone other than me wearing this pendant. But…”

―――I don’t know what these feelings are.

Shuu did not become irritated by an answer that even frustrated Natsuo himself. Rather, a look of delight seeped into his expression as he embraced Natsuo.

“For now, that’s enough. As long as you don’t hate me or reject me.”

“…There’s no way I could ever do that. Without you, Shuu, I don’t know how I’d go on living.”

It was by no means an exaggeration. For the ten years since Shuu had disappeared before his eyes, Natsuo had lived each day thinking of him. Even here in Odamaki Village, it would probably be difficult for him to live a peaceful life without Shuu as his protector.

A large hand gently stroked his back, as though soothing a child.

“All you have to do is stay here. You don’t need to do anything.”

“…Even so, that’s being far too indulgent toward me…”

“I want to spoil you, so it’s fine. In any case, I have no intention of letting you go outside until today’s trial is over and Etsuko and the others have been sentenced.”

……The trial. Being sentenced.

The cold sound of those words sent a chill down the back of Natsuo’s neck, and at the same time, he remembered. When they had driven Kazuo out, Shuu had ordered that Etsuko be kept in prison. And on top of that, he had forbidden anyone from treating the cheek where she had been struck.

That alone would be harsh enough for a fifteen-year-old girl, yet now she was going to be put on trial. If Natsuo remembered correctly, trials in Odamaki Village were a system completely devoid of fairness, with the village head serving as both judge and prosecutor. Stealing Sacred Flower was apparently considered a grave crime, so even though she was a girl, she would probably receive a severe punishment.

…No, even before that, how had Etsuko obtained the Sacred Flower?

The flowerbed at the village head’s residence, where the Sacred Flower was cultivated, was not kept under lock and key, but that day there had been a drinking party. It should have been extremely difficult to approach the flowerbed while avoiding the eyes of the many villagers who had gathered there. Etsuko, being a woman, would not have been allowed to participate in the drinking party.

And that wasn’t the only mystery.

“………Shuu.”

“What is it, Natsuo?”

“Yesterday, why did you and Kazuo-kun arrive at exactly that moment?”

Because the two of them had come to his rescue before he finished eating the bento, Natsuo had only had to suffer the symptoms of the aphrodisiac.

But how did the two of them know that Etsuko was trying to make Natsuo eat a bento containing Shinka? Shuu had been at the village head’s residence the entire time, so he should not have been able to keep track of Etsuko’s movements.

“…Kazuo told me.”

Natsuo stared at him intently, determined not to back down until he got an answer. Eventually, Shuu let out a sigh as though he had finally given in.

“Kazuo-kun?”

“Yes. Etsuko was unusually cooking, so he secretly watched her, and he happened to witness her chopping up Sacred Flower and putting it into the cooking pot.”

Every villager knew that the Sacred Flower was poisonous. Kazuo had become concerned that Etsuko, blinded by jealousy, might be planning to poison Natsuo to death, so apparently he had rushed to Shuu while the drinking party was underway. And when Shuu hurried back home, Natsuo had been suffering from the effects of the aphrodisiac… That was what had happened.

When word spread that Etsuko had stolen the Sacred Flower and attempted to poison Natsuo to death, the villagers at the drinking party were thrown into an uproar. The reason was—

“The one who stole the Sacred Flower from the flowerbed was Kasuya-san’s son, Kiyoshi.”

“…Wasn’t that boy supposed to be getting married to Etsuko-chan?”

“Apparently, Etsuko told Kiyoshi that she would marry him if he brought a Sacred Flower for her. According to Kiyoshi, she had begged him because she wanted to see the Odamaki-sama’s flower up close, just once.”

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*Translator’s Note: That girl is insane… Ugh. But then again, she was stuck in that village. Shuu possesses a look so extraordinary. If she lives in the other world, there’s BTS and all… she might not have gotten too crazy over Shuu hahaha. -K

Next update: 2026.11.02

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